This invention relates to elevator group control devices for elevator apparatus installed in buildings by which the landing floors of the elevator cages are provided with the destination buttons and the service schedule displays for indicating the floors serviced by respective cages.
With recent introduction of microcomputers, the group control devices for controlling a plurality of elevator cages are now capable of processing a large amount of information and thus accomplishing a sophisticated scheduling control of the elevator cages.
This is especially true for the elevator group control devices installed in buildings accommodating a large number of offices where a plurality of elevator cages are operated. In such buildings, there are certain time zones in which the elevators are particularly crowded with passengers. These crowded time zones generally include the morning and evening hours when the commuters get to and return from their offices, and the lunch time when people go out of their offices to have lunch. During these crowded time zones, the scheduling of the elevator cages are modified and adapted to the particular crowded pattern (for example, a plurality of cages are allotted to the crowded floor and stopped there to wait for passengers with doors open), such that the passengers concentrated at the crowded floor may be conveyed to their destination effectively.
For example, during the morning time when the commuters get on the elevator to get to their offices, the embarking call for the ground floor (referred to as the main floor) is registered permanently in the elevator group control device such that a plurality of cages are set waiting with their doors open at the main floor for the incoming passengers. Further, in the case where the elevators are extremely crowded with commuters, the control method known as the divided service scheduling for commuters may be adopted. That is, the floors of the building, except for the main floor, serviced by the elevators are divided into two zones, the upper floors zone and the lower floors zones (see FIG. 10). The two zones are served by distinct sets of elevator cages such that the incoming passengers concentrated at the main floor can be conveyed to their respective destination by means of the cages dedicated to their destinations. The crowded passengers are thus conveyed effectively.
The above divided service scheduling for commuter passengers, however, has the floor disadvantage. Each cage is scheduled either for the upper floors zone or the lower floors zone. Thus the passengers should select by themselves an elevator cage scheduled for their destination and push the destination button associated with the cage. This is a burden upon the passengers. Further, since all the cages are returned to the main floor even when there is no real need, the service efficiency of the cages may be substantially less than optimal.